Obama, Suu Kyi And The Forbidden Kiss ("grave breach of custom")
IBT ^
Posted on Monday, November 19, 2012 5:07:02 PM by Arthurio
As Barack Obama appeared in the home of Myanmar pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, the U.S. president planted a platonic, but very affectionate, kiss on her cheek (to which she appeared to slightly recoil in embarrassment). This act has surprisingly elicited little or no comment in the global press thus far – quite unusual since public displays of affection represent a grave breach of custom in virtually all Asian countries.
Obama likely did not mean to offend his Burmese hosts, however, as a well-travelled man of the world, he must have known that a kiss – especially one between a man and a woman who are not married; and one delivered to the most famous woman in Southeast Asia – violates local etiquette.-snip-
With respect to Suu Kyi’s apparent ‘backing away’ from Obama’s kiss, another expert on Burma, Frederic K. Lehman, Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, speculated: “if, indeed, she did back away, possibly it is a personal thing with her and maybe she may have felt it was not to be done in a Burmese context-- she is, after all, a politician and sensitive to how her constituents may feel about her behavior.”
Though the kiss has elicited no diplomatic incidents, Obama did make at least one other blunder during his informal meeting with Suu Kyi.
The Associated Press reported that Obama repeatedly mispronounced her name, though Suu Kyi politely refrained from correcting him.
The president called the Nobel laureate “Aung Yan Suu Kyi,” versus the correct pronunciation: “Ahng Sahn Soo Chee.”
Nile Gardiner, a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst for the Daily Telegraph, commented: “It is rather embarrassing, as well as sad, that the leader of the free world can’t even pronounce the name of the most famous human rights activist on the planet.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.com ...
He probably smelled by alcohol and smoke so she was like "GTFA!"
sounds like you're talking about your mother
